mook jong construction

[guroMARV]

have any of you guys tried to construct your own mook jong?

what are your opinions on:

pvc dummies?

immortal-usa's "composite dummy"?

[SimonW]

IMHO the Immortal dummy is useless. The arms are horrible, and the leg in the model I have attempted to practise on sticks out a mile so that you cannot practise the footwork properly.

I've made my own Jong. The hardest thing is getting hold of the materials. As long as you don't rush the construction and get the hole angles right, it's not that hard.

I would also say NOT to go the easy route and make a PVC pipe dummy. Go to the effort of making a wooden one and not only will it give you much more satisfaction, you will practise on it more seriously because of the effort it took you to make it!

[curtis]

I agree with SimonW
Anything worth haveing is worth working for. But haveing said that. there are some verry nice web sites you can buy a good jong from. I would recemend,

http://www.little-raven.com/RS/MA/Jong.html

but there are others. like Great lyon

http://www.woodendummy.net

BUT!
If you want to make your own, the parts and meterals are not that hard to find.
If you like you can e-mail me, and I will give you a list of what to buy and where to buy it.

[kungfu cowboy]

How did you round the body?

[curtis]

YOU can use a lathe.
But Ive used a draw knife,and a spokeshaven.for many years.

Gota runn!
C.A.G.

[Wingman]

Originally posted by curtis
YOU can use a lathe.
But Ive used a draw knife,and a spokeshaven.for many years.

Gota runn!
C.A.G.

That would be a very very huge lathe! Are you refering to the dummy's body or the dummy's arms?

[SimonW]

It's not that difficult to turn the body on a lathe. I am making a new dummy and the wood turner is only charging 30UKP for the job. The better wood turners around will easily cater for wood the size of the average dummy body. I was surprised myself when I phoned around.

[Gandolf269]

I made my own dummy using a PVC pipe as a body. But, my PVC pipe came from the oil fields and the side thickness is a little over 1 1/4 inch thick, so it is definately NOT lightweight. It weights as much as a wooden dummy (95lbs) and definately feels solid when you hit it. The body is 12 inches in diameter instead of the suggested 9 inches, so I had to improvise when cutting the holes a little bit . I made my arms out of 4x4's, and shaved them down by hand because I don't have the luxury of a laithe. I am still constructing the leg, so can't comment on that yet. 8>) I used plans available on Duncen Leung's web page as a general guide. Total cost of supplies: approx. $150.00 (us). It wasn't real easy but if your half way handy it's not that hard either. It seemed like most of my time was spent planning the cuts and measuring. In the end it was alot of fun to make and very rewarding. But much more fun training on it.

Good Luck with which ever way you decide to go.

[kungfu cowboy]

Hi curtis! Your method sounds promising. I have a couple of questions though:

1) How difficult is it to obtain an even, smooth diameter the entire length of the dummy...AND

2) How the hell long did it take?...AND

3) What did you use to make the holes?...AND

4) Got any pictures you can post?...AND

5) How much did you spend total?

6) Can you get it to the point where it looks as good as if it were lathed?

Thanks!

[curtis]

OK
Yes I have some pictures. I will find out how to send them to this form.
If you like I can send them to you via. e-mail.

Now on to you questions.
YES you can get very good body shape with a draw knife.
the time to make a tree trunk round, depends on the tree. but it use to take me around 3hrs. with a draw knife.

I now have a large enough lathe now.

the holes can be chiesled, (but i like round holes and you will know why after youve made square ones.) the drilling of the arms isnt that hard. you can go to HD and look in the tools dep.
there is an forster bit and extention sold by milwakee brand that will do the trick easly.

[KPM]

I built my own dummy many many years ago and am still using it. I made my trunk from 2 x 4's that were cut on the edges at an angle to fit together in an octagon shape so that the whole thing is hollow. Then I rounded it with a draw knife. It is still plenty heavy enough even though hollow. The advantage of this is that you have less wood so it is much cheaper, and the holes for the arms are much easier to cut. I used a quality wood glue aand have never had any problems with cracking or separation. I capped both ends of the trunk with wood inserts to add to the stability. Only tools needed were a table saw with a blade that can be set at an angle, strap clamps to hold it together while the glue dries, a drawknife and power sander, and a jigsaw to cut the holes.

Keith